


The Way Forever Hurts

by Oaklin



Series: Forever Everything [2]
Category: Professional Wrestling, World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: M/M, Other, aggressive affection, also weirdly fluffy, and they refuse to acknowledge that, do not do this at home, in a SUPER baby!steenerico way, just aggressiveness in general, like stealth angst i guess, m/m catagory because of the UST, not because they are together, or zowens way whatever, sorta angsty, terrible first aid, tiny canadian pains-in-my-ass, which they are not, while also refusing to actually GET TOGETHER, wrestlers and their multiple personality disorder
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-25
Updated: 2016-06-25
Packaged: 2018-07-18 04:36:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7299841
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oaklin/pseuds/Oaklin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>baby!Sami stubbornly ignores his subconscious' efforts to warn him of the cycle he is getting himself stuck in.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Way Forever Hurts

**Author's Note:**

> Hello again! I have returned with another installment of this foolishness and man did this one give me FITS. 
> 
> baby!Sami is WAY easier for me to write than baby!Steen. He is so chill and relaxed. Unless he is asked to be a normal person who can interact with his friends. Then he morphs into an awkward ball of gangly limbs and stubborn denial.
> 
> For the record, this was not intended to be as ... sexual(?) as it turned out. Its pretty much a massive tease that I can not seem to edit down to have both proper narrative flow and less UST. I tried. Multiple times until it actually started to piss me off. 
> 
> So, this is what I ended up with. I kinda like it after leaving it alone for a few days. It sorta ... I dunno it is just so THEM you know?

When Sami is 9 years old he falls off his front porch while dancing, dislocating his shoulder. Ironic, given where his interests lay that it wasn’t a wrestling move gone wrong.

It would not be the first time life would throw him a curve ball, unfortunately.

He was genuinely enjoying himself, kicking his legs and swinging his arms, his father laughing along and clapping. When Sami’s foot came down wrong neither he nor his father had time to react before Sami was sailing through the air off the front porch steps, landing on his shoulder with a sickening crunch. Sami remembers the deafening silence that somehow seemed to roar in his ears, making his thoughts sluggish as his startled body tried to register what had just happened.

His father was hurtling down the stairs asking if he was okay and the panic on his face made Sami want to reassure him. The boy sat up, ‘I’m fine’ on his lips, only to stop mid word, tears welling in his eyes and clogging his throat as his brain finally recognized the pain. Sami cried out and slumped forward and grasping his shoulder as fat tears rolled down his cheeks, sobs wracking his small frame.

His father fell to his knees on the hard concrete, his panicked babbling barely breaking through Sami’s agony. He managed to look up, tear stained face pleading with his father to fix this. His father froze for a heartbeat and Sami waited, knowing his father would help, though not sure how. His father reached out a hand, stroking reddened damp cheeks before sucking in a sharp breath, looking at Sami apologetically.

“I am so sorry light of my life. Hold on okay?”

Sami barely had time to nod an affirmative before he was being lifted into the air, his father’s solid arms under his back and knees. Sami tried to bite back the cry of agony but could not stop the fresh wave of tears and it had his father letting out confused strings of profuse apologies in French, Arabic and English even as he began forward, jostling his son even more.

Sami looked up through watery eyes as the front door banged open, seeing his mothers fearful eyes dart from him to his father, who shot her a grave look before heading to the car. Sami’s mother darted back in the house only to emerge a second later with her purse and keys, bounding down the steps and sliding into the drivers seat.

Sami doesn’t remember much after his father strapped him in. The pain was making him dizzy. He sees flashes of lights and lots of mumbled, half formed words reach his ears as he drifts in and out of lucidity.

Sami wakes up with a deep ache in his shoulder and a sharp pain in the back of his skull. His mother sits in a chair beside the hospital bed and when he looks around he spots his father by the window. A rough sound echoes around the room and it takes Sami a long moment to realize it came from him.

His father spins around and his mother jerks in her seat, putting her book on the bedside table as his father sits down on the edge of the bed. Sami tires to speak again but finds his muscles uncooperative. His mother gives him a sympathetic look and hands him a glass. Sami drinks greedily, the admittedly room temperature water soothing his sore throat. After he’s done he lays back on the pillows and closes his eyes, his body exhausted from just sitting up.

His father runs a comforting hand through his hair and his mother laces her long fingers with his, squeezing them with a tight, relieved smile. Sami squeezes back and leans into his fathers touch, taking comfort in their larger than life strength, letting it envelope him and pull him back into a healing sleep.

* * *

 

When Sami is 19 years old he gets pile driven through a stack of tables at midnight on a Friday, the crowd pop well worth the pain, he thinks as he lay among the debris.

He’s still not really sure why Kevin didn’t tell him he was going to do it before hand -some warning would have been nice- but the way Kevin corners him in the darkness of the bar and pulls him into a triumphant hug after Sami finally pulls himself out of the wreckage makes it all feel real somehow.

Unfortunately, while he loves Kevin dearly, the man is never gentle about anything and he yanks Sami roughly forward, sweat-damp arms wrapping around Sami’s slighter frame and dragging painfully across his bruised back. Sami hisses and jerks back, but there is nowhere to go. Kevin’s arms are like a vice and all the young wrestler ends up doing is pressing his sore spots harder into Kevin’s embrace.

Sami relaxes as best he can, blinking away tears and slides his hands up tense arms then over broad shoulders before finally clasping his hands together at the back of a thick neck and holding on for dear life as Kevin walks him backwards, face buried in Sami’s neck and muttering incomprehensibly. Sami lets out an involuntary whine when his back hits a wall and if Kevin hears him he doesn’t show it, just bears down on Sami like he always does, his weight crushing Sami’s body against the wall agonizingly.

Sami fights the urge to shove Kevin away (his good friend is only happy after all and Kevin so rarely lets Sami share his joy) and takes it, digging his fingers into the top of Kevin’s spine, pressing his body forward against the other man to ease the pressure on his back.

Kevin lets out a low groan that sounds dragged up from his soul and pulls his head up, dark eyes shining in the dim light, labored breathing loud in the space between them even as the crowd shrieks at whatever is still happening in the ring. Sami starts to say something but it dies in his throat at the myriad of emotions that flash across Kevin’s face so rapidly he is sure he’s imagining it.

Sami tries to remind himself where they are (tiny bar in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by intoxicated fans and sometimes unscrupulous wrestlers), but they don’t get many quiet moments like this. It seems like they are always surrounded by other wrestlers or event promoters or drunken wrestling fans. So when Sami’s fingers unlace and he slides a hand around those shoulders, up a sweaty neck and over a scratchy jaw, he expects someone to shout at them. He expects one of the other wrestlers to burst into their private moment of celebration and offer them beer that neither will drink, or the promoter to threaten their pay if they don’t wrestle three more matches.

None of that happens and Sami’s fingers slide up Kevin’s three day old beard and curl across his cheek so he can rub a thumb over sweat slick skin.

Kevin is staring at him with that heavy lidded look in his eyes that always makes Sami's skin feel four sizes too small.

In the muted, beer stale air anxiety takes hold. Sami realizes he has no idea why he is touching Kevin like this.

If he’s allowed to touch Kevin like this.

It feels more... _more_ than he had meant it. Though he is not really sure how he meant it or how he had ever -even unconsciously- thought that stroking the cheek of a person not blood related to him could ever be anything other than awkwardly intimate.

Sami feels his face begin to heat up but he can’t seem to make his hand move.

Or open his mouth to try and explain himself, though that would undoubtedly end in disaster.

Try as he might he can’t seem to do more than hold himself there, sore back pressed into the wall, sweat soaked chest slotted against Kevin, thumb absently brushing beads of perspiration off the other mans cheek. Kevin face is a mess of assorted emotions all of which flash by before Sami can place them.

Sami sucks in a harsh breath and grits his teeth when Kevin pushes forward suddenly, the whole length of his body pressed to Sami’s, the wall and Kevin’s strong arms digging into his sore frame. Sami’s other hand instinctually slides from Kevin’s neck up into short dark hair and tugs at the sweaty strands gently, trying to ask him to ease up. Kevin barely seems to register the touch, moving one arm from Sami’s back to rest his forearm against the wall next to Sami’s head. His other hand tightens around Sami’s waist pulling them impossibly close together as Kevin’s legs push between Sami’s.

Now the two of them are sealed together so tightly that Sami doesn’t know where either of them begin or end.

The feeling of them being one single entity washes over Sami and he shudders, pushing his whole body forward into into Kevin’s touch, a frantic need to stay like this forever rising in him.

Kevin brings their foreheads together roughly with a whimper that Sami swears sounds like it was torn from him, not even wincing when their skull clack together. The hand in Kevin’s hair curls into a fist as Sami gasps into the centimeters between them, the pounding in his head and the ache in his back making it hard to think as he stares, entranced, into Kevin’s emotion filled eyes and tries not to cry out -with joy, with pain, with love.

Maybe all three. Sami’s not sure anymore.

They’re both tearing up now and when Sami runs a thumb across Kevin’s cheek again, its not sweat making his cheeks wet. Seeing Kevin cry always makes Sami cry and this time is no exception, thought it probably has less to do with Kevin’s tears and more to do with the thick wave of fondness clawing its way up Sami’s inflamed throat.

Letting out a slightly hysterical laugh that was more of a sob, Sami presses eagerly into the nuzzle Kevin grants him, laughing more genuinely when Kevin’s prickly beard brushes his sweat raw skin. Sami pulls his fingers from the other mans hair and cups Kevin’s cheek as he brushes their noses together affectionately, “Trying to leave me with beard burn Kevin? You know how sensitive my skin is after a show,” Sami says, taking another soft eskimo kiss that Kevin lets him have and even returns before leaning down to rub his stubble harshly across Sami’s neck and chin.

Kevin pulls back marginally to inspect his handiwork as Sami squawks indignantly. Kevin looks at his friend, mouth curling mischievously in the way that always makes Sami’s heart leap into his throat and his breath shallow like he’d just run a gauntlet. “All of you is sensitive all the fucking time Sami. I am surprised you don’t get beard burn by just being in my manly presence,” Kevin rasps, his voice thick with an emotional high.

Shaking his head slightly and trying to collect his thoughts Sami doesn’t bother pretending to be offended, “Yeah, well, your manly presence is going to squash me into a paste against this wall and then who would you throw through tables to the delight of a crowd?” Sami beams as Kevin chuckles, not being able to resist leaning in for one more nuzzle before Kevin finally eases his grip.

“I don’t even know if these drunken morons realized what was going on right in front of their faces before that spot. Biggest pop of the night for sure,” Kevin grumbles without heat. He leans back marginally, letting about and inch of space between them but not moving away, leaving his forearm against the wall and letting his other hand hang at his side.

Sami shrugs, “It got them exited so that is all that matters. Plus the uh, the rush was... something.”

Something he can still feel in fact, roaring through his (and Kevin’s obviously) veins, no doubt responsible for the love fest that had just happened.

The thought made a spike of agony stab through Sami’s heart for some inexplicable reason.

Kevin coughs and looks away, but eyes Sami sideways as if he can’t look him dead on for a moment, “Yeah. Great match, sort of good crowd, orgasmic thrill afterward. I’d say tonight was a brilliant success, yes?”

Sami feels his cheeks heat at Kevin’s word choice but powers through it and smiles brightly at his best friend, “Absolutely. Though as much as I loved tonight, I can’t wait to fall into bed and sleep for like, a year,” he pulls away from the wall and rests a tentative hand on his back, wincing, “Also, I really need to ice my back. Those tables were a bit more hurty than I expected.”

The beautiful sparkle falls from Kevin’s eyes and he pulls abruptly away from Sami, arm jerking away from the wall, his bottom lip curling into a half snarl as he turns.

Sami feels his stomach drop (what did he _do_?) as inexplicable panic envelopes him - _no, stop, **Kevin come back** please don’t_ \- and he lurches after Kevin, hands scrambling for purchase on the clammy skin of his closest friend, “Kevin wait I-”

Kevin shakes off Sami’s fumbling attempts to draw him back and takes a few steps away, into the smoky darkness of the bar, “I should have known you would not be able to take something as simple as a fucking table spot. If you are going to bitch and moan all night about your poor bruised back I might as well just fuck off to the next show without your pathetic ass.”

Sami shook his head vigorously, pouncing before Kevin stopped talking, leaping forward and wrapping himself around Kevin’s waist, a breathless mantra flooding his brain.

- _make him stay, make him stay, don‘t let him **leave**_ -

“NO! That is not what I meant. It just hurts is all. I’m **proud** of us and proud of how well we did tonight and happy - **ecstatic** about... everything. I have never been this happy in my entire life Kevin,” Sami wasn’t exactly sure why Kevin was suddenly upset, all he knew was that he wanted them both to be happy.

Forever if possible, but just tonight would be good enough for now.

Kevin looked out at the rest of the bar for a long moment, chewing angrily on his bottom lip, face blank in that way that scared Sami for reasons he couldn’t quite articulate.

After what felt like forever, Kevin turned back, eyes cold and calculating as he evaluated Sami. The redhead tried his best to look like something Kevin would want to be around, to spend time with and be close to. In all honestly Sami had no idea how to be any of those things, though he did try his best to be whatever it was Kevin wanted even if he couldn’t figure out what that was.

Whatever Kevin was looking for he seemed to find it after what Sami could swear was forever. After stripping away at Sami for what felt like lifetimes, Kevin’s face shifted from closed off to exasperated fondness.

Sami let out an undignified squeak when Kevin suddenly jerked him up into a disappointingly brief one armed hug before slinging an arm around his shoulders an dragging him along.

“Alright alright, lets go back to the car and get you some ice then you big fucking cry baby,” Kevin said, rolling his eyes and impatiently tugging Sami along when the lanky wrestler just stared at him in wary astonishment.

Sami shook off his apprehension -this was Kevin after all- and smiled, slipping his arm around Kevin’s waist as they cut a path through the rowdy patrons to the parking lot. 

* * *

 Sami moans softly but doesn’t otherwise move or say anything when Kevin presses one of his spare shirts -full of ice stolen from the bar- into the large bruise on his back. Its cold and hurts and is wonderful and hurts and Sami kinda doesn’t like tonight anymore but also loves it more than anything.

Sami draws in a startled breath and flinches when Kevin makes a low sound in his throat and pulls the ice away, the cool night breeze burning Sami’s damp, tender skin.

“Kevin? What-hhhrrnnnnngg-!” Sami snaps a hand up, curling his index finger in his mouth and biting down harshly, sucking in pants of air between his fingers as a calloused hand presses roughly into abused skin. Sami twitches away and cries out around his fingers when Kevin’s whole palm digs into the bruise, thick fingers dragging over Sami’s lower back, blunt nails digging ever so slightly into his skin.

“Fuck! Kevin-” Sami tries to jerk away, hands reaching for the top of the open car door to pull himself to his feet, but Kevin’s other hand comes down around his shoulder. Kevin’s hand slams down hard enough to make Sami’s jaw clack painfully, the slighter man sure he can feel his bones rattling.

Sami arches his back, desperation and agony making him almost delirious with the intense need to get away - _stop **please** Kevin_ -he clenches both hands into fists as Kevin leans closer, his body heat pouring over Sami like a living furnace, hand flat on Sami’s black and blue skin, breath ghosting over Sami’s neck. Sami opens his mouth to tell Kevin to that he is hurting him, but Kevin moves his hand, effectively cutting off Sami’s train of thought.

Calloused fingers trail roughly over the tender skin and a hot palm digs into his lower back, making Sami arch away again, hands coming up to clasp over his mouth, stifling a scream.

“Kevin _please_ -” Sami sobs through his shaking hands, fresh tears streaming unheeded down his cheeks as he strains against the arm now slipping around his neck in a loose almost choke-hold.

“Shh,” Kevin replies, the softness of his voice actually making it into somewhat of a comfort, totally at odds with his actions.

Sami clenches his teeth as the heel of Kevin’s palm digs deep into the battered skin of his lower back, dragging out slow half rotations as his fingers curl into the skin his palm is not covering, almost like-

Sami relaxes slightly, then tries to relax more as he sluggishly realizes he is getting a clumsy, **way** too rough back rub.

Kevin could have asked first. Why could he never just ask first?

Drawing in a shaky breath, he swallows hard and closes his eyes, trying to let Kevin’s administrations soothe him somewhat, though he can’t stop the way he jerks and lets out choked back sobs as Kevin sinks deeper into his loosening muscles. Hands coming up, Sami grasps the arm Kevin is holding him in place with, digging his fingers into Kevin’s forearm and biting down on pain filled swear words even as Kevin’s harsh treatment starts to slowly ease the burning pain shooting up his back into a dull ache.

As his breathing evens out and the hazy cloud of pain begins to evaporate, Sami notices that Kevin’s forehead is pressed against the base of his skull, smoldering puffs of air grazing his skin in time with his palm strokes. Heat shoots up Sami’s body, though whether its from Kevin’s attentions, the volcanic heat he is putting off or embarrassment, Sami’s not sure.

He is sure that Kevin muttering against the nape of Sami’s neck in French is not helping though.

Its too quiet for Sami to make much out but the occasional mention of his name, though he is pretty sure at this point that its better if he can’t hear. Kevin seems to be in a mood tonight and its got Sami completely at a loss of what to do, other than roll with it and hope Kevin calms down eventually, or explains himself. Though knowing Kevin, that will never happen and Sami is not stupid enough to turn down affection from one of the most important people in his life.

Even if said affection is rough, finicky and really awkward.

Eventually, around the time the pain has eased enough for Sami to start getting drowsy, Kevin pulls his head up, pressing his palm firmly against Sami’s back once more before pressing the shirt -now soaked through with half melted ice cubes- to the bruise.

That wakes Sami up and he jerks against Kevin’s arm as he pulls it away, crying out in surprise.

“FFFF- Kevin!” Sami shrieks, easing back when Kevin puts a hand on his hip, pushing the ice insistently into his bruise, “Thank you,” Sami adds in a much lower tone, feeling a blush rise to his cheeks as a group of people leaving the bar shoot knowing toward their dark corner of the parking lot.

“Not sorry,” Kevin mumbles in response and Sami is a good enough friend to not call him out on the fact that his voice sounds as wrecked as Sami’s.

“I know,” Sami says hoarsely, a wry smile on his lips as he leans back, sighing as the coolness seeps into his back.

He gladly takes the aspirin and bottle of water Kevin hands him swallowing one down before leaning his head back on Kevin’s shoulder, smiling up at the stars above.

Kevin takes the water bottle when Sami offers it, taking a drink with one hand, still pressing the drenched shirt to Sami’s back with the other.

Sami can’t help the fond smile that lights up his face.

Being Kevin’s friend is never easy, but no one will ever convince Sami it won’t all be worth it in the end. They might be a miss-match in terms of personality and temperament (and whatever the hell else Sami’s parents had been wrong about Kevin when he introduced them) but in the end none of that mattered.

All that mattered was here in this car, in this parking lot, after this small time show.

Whatever else happened, no matter how much it hurt, this was where Sami wanted to be.

**Author's Note:**

> Terrible first aid is terrible. 
> 
> Rereading this for edits, I’m actually way more into this than I thought I would be. Its also WAY cutesier than I remember.
> 
> Well, cutesy in a VERY Steenerico way. Its all blood bonding and Stockholm Syndrome and crazy jealous guy with these two I swear.
> 
> Oops, I mean ...is it still Zowens when they were babies? Goddamn wrestlers and their goddamn multiple personality disorders.
> 
> Also, there may or may not be a deleted scene that takes place immediately after the ~hug~ wherein Kevin removes all the splinters from Sami’s back. I feel like that would stray too far into blood-play (and I am SO not up to writing that right now) but its rolling around in my head ...so you might see that eventually is all I’m saying. 
> 
> It needs some fine tuning, but I really like playing around with the different-but-not-different ways in which Sami and Kevin are both idiotically and destructively in denial about EVERYTHING. Sami handles it somewhat better (and with less violence than Steen) but when you think about it he probably lies to himself and everyone else just as much as Kevin, he just doesn’t draw as much attention to himself in the process. 
> 
> In addition, they seem to be progressing in opposite directions on that front. Owens is more ... restrained-ish (sort of) than Steen ever was. On the other hand modern day Sami is WAY less ... well he has never been calm. Its’ just that no matter what kind of mask (both the metaphorical and physical) Sami hides behind he can't seem to disentangle himself from Kevin. Sami is CONSTANTLY letting himself fall farther into the burning garbage fire of terribly amazing soap opera nonsense that is the Kevin & Sami show. I guess Kevin is Sami’s Achilles Heel.
> 
> Anyway, hope you liked it ;)


End file.
